Jeremiah 35:1-11

GOD’S WORD Translation

The Obedient Example of the Family of Rechab

35 The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah during the reign of Jehoiakim, son of King Josiah of Judah. He said, ² “Go to the family of Rechab and talk to them. Take them into one of the side rooms in the Lord’s temple, and offer them a drink of wine.”

³ I took Jaazaniah, who was the son of Jeremiah and the grandson of Habazziniah, and I took Jaazaniah’s brothers and all his sons—the whole family of Rechab. ⁴ I brought them into the Lord’s temple, into the side room of the sons of Hanan. (He was Igdaliah’s son, the man of God.) It was next to the room of the officials and above the side room of Maaseiah, Shallum’s son, the doorkeeper. ⁵ Then I set cups and pitchers filled with wine in front of the family of Rechab. I said to them, “Drink some wine.”

⁶ They answered, “We don’t drink wine, because our ancestor Jonadab, Rechab’s son, gave us this order: ‘You and your descendants must never drink wine. ⁷ Never build any houses or plant any fields or vineyards. You must never have any of these things. You must always live in tents so that you may live for a long time in the land where you are staying.’ ⁸ We, along with our wives, sons, and daughters, have obeyed our ancestor Jonadab, Rechab’s son, in everything he ordered us to do. We have never drunk wine, ⁹ built houses to live in, or owned vineyards, pastures, or grainfields. ¹⁰ We live in tents, and we have obeyed everything our ancestor Jonadab ordered us to do. ¹¹ But when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded this land, we said, ‘Let’s go to Jerusalem ⌞to escape⌟ the Babylonian and Aramean armies.’ That’s why we are living in Jerusalem.”